8.2. Accidentally Destructive Payload

Some viruses, such as Stoned, can cause data loss as a result of replication. When the virus saves the original boot sector, it might overwrite important data. For instance, if there are many directory entries on the diskette, Stoned will overwrite some of these entries because it stores the original boot sector at the end of the root directory. As a result, garbage is displayed on the screen instead of filenames when the diskette is looked at with the DIR command. The file can be restored from the diskettes with a disk editor at that point, but most users will experience this as permanent data loss.